New Delhi: The government has decided to allow corporates, non-profit companies and societies to establish 2,500 schools all over the country. The step has been taken to encourage the development of inclusive education in India.

The Planning Commission in consultation with the private sector finalized the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model that would allow the government to fill up 1,000 seats from the existing 2,500 seats in each school having children from disadvantaged sections.

Although the schools that are to be set up will be run by a private management, they would still remain government schools, benefiting as many as 25 lakh students.

Out of the 1000 available seats at the PPP schools, half of these would be reserved for students from the scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and other backward classes (OBC). These students would only have to pay a tuition fee of Rs. 25 per month.

The panel has decided that the rest of the seats would be allotted to children of non-income tax paying parents, who would have to pay a monthly tuition fee of Rs. 50.

The remaining cost of providing education to these students would be borne by the government in accordance with the Kendriya Vidyalaya norms. The students would be provided free textbooks and two uniform sets in a year.

The estimated cost that would have to be paid by the government per child is Rs. 1000 to Rs. 1200. This means that the government would be paying around Rs. 10,500 crore till the year 2017 to private education providers.

An official said that the government will not interfere in the decision by the school regarding the fee that has to be paid by students from the non-reserved category. He said that the private administration would have complete control over their schools.